local bigtime day one

SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Las Vegas Locals Win, Lose On
First Day Of Big Time Tourney--(July 16, 1998)

The Las Vegas Heat, a local favorite and the top all-star team in the area won yesterday. Trailing by 19 points, they rallyied to defeat the Northern Stars (S.D.), 77-70. The Northern Stars took their biggest lead, 36-17, with 6:01 left in the first half. They hit five of their eight first-half 3-pointers in a seven-minute stretch to build the lead. "It seemed like they couldn't miss," Heat coach Daron Park said. "In the first half, they hit a lot of open shots. They even hit some shots when we had hands in their faces."

The Northern Stars led 48-32 at halftime, but the Heat scored six of the first seven points in the second half to cut the lead to 11. Then Larry Graves and the second unit took over, pulling the Heat to within 60-53 on Graves' three-point play with 9:14 left. The Heat went on an 11-3 run when the starters returned, taking the lead for good on Graves' free throw with 5:18 left. Graves scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half. Marcus Banks led the Heat with 17 points, and James Bayless had 16 points and 14 rebounds.

Green Valley, another local favorite, won also defeating Team Texas Blue 64-57. Jeff Platt led Green Valley with 15 points, including 3 of 4 free throws in overtime. Dwain Schallenberger scored 13 and Cornell Williams 12 for the Gators.

Mad Moves, an all-star squad that included top area college prospect Kevin Gaines, lost to Omaha Godfather's Pizza 85-64. Mad Moves led 30-25 with 3:44 left in the first half, but Omaha Godfather's Pizza scored the next 19 points. Mad Moves coach Mitch Mitchell added Bishop Gorman guard Dinard Taylor and Bonanza's Kareem Wesley to the roster at the last minute, and three other players just arrived from out of town. "The offense is kind of choppy because they're still learning my plays, but we still should have been in the game," Mitchell said. Gaines didn't disappoint, getting 32 points and nine rebounds.

Las Vegas Select, another all local all-star team, trailed throughout to Texas Blue Chip, losing 72-51.

The Las Vegas Panthers, a team composed of Palo Verde players with no varsity experience, lost 77-62 to Fort Worth (Texas) Lions II. And the Las Vegas Stars, made up mostly of Durango underclassmen, lost 73-54 to Southern Oregon Stars II.

All six local Vegas teams play today. The Select plays Canyon (Calif.) at the Silverado auxiliary gym at 9 a.m.; the Stars play Los Alamitos (Calif.) at 11:40 a.m. at Durango's auxiliary gym; Mad Moves plays BWBA III (Calif.) at 11:40 a.m. in Cimarron-Memorial's main gym; the Panthers play EBO Fresno (Calif.) at 5 p.m. in the Las Vegas auxiliary gym; the Heat plays Indy Metros Gold (Ind.) at 9 p.m. in the Cimarron auxiliary gym; and Green Valley plays Jeffco Court (Colo.) in the Green Valley auxiliary gym.